Dublin Fire Brigade has reported a busy night dealing with what are believed to be malicious fires in advance of Halloween.

30 October 2014 02:30 PM

Dublin Fire Brigade has reported a busy night dealing with what are believed to be malicious fires in advance of Halloween.

A shipping container used as changing rooms at a pitch on Stannaway Road in Crumlin were set alight at 8pm last night, but after the flames were extinguished there was a repeat of the event at around 2am when a much bigger fire, believed to have been started using accelerants, was fought.

Also at 2am the disused IDA Centre at Gardiner Street, which was packed with pallets and tyres, was discovered to be on fire.

The fire took four hours to fight, and fire brigade crews had to use special compressed air and foam hoses to smother the flames.

"Our impression is that these fires are being started deliberately, and in some cases it could be youths from one community destroying the bonfire materials being stored by youths from a different area to spoil their event," said one fire brigade source.